Wednesday, September 01, 2010

• Robin Jarossi reports in Crime Time Preview that British TV broadcaster ITV is preparing a small-screen adaptation of Kate Summerscale’s best-selling non-fiction book, The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher: A Shocking Murder and the Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective (2008). “The two-hour drama,” writes Jarossi, “will star Paddy Considine (Red Riding Trilogy, Dead Man’s Shoes, The Bourne Ultimatum) in the lead role of Inspector Jonathan Whicher and will be adapted by Neil McKay (Mo, See No Evil: The Moors Murders). Set in 1860, this true story of murder, psychological suspense and courtroom drama begins when three-year-old Saville Kent is found brutally murdered and hidden down a servants’ privy in the grounds of the elegant Rode Hill House on the edge of a village on the Wiltshire/Somerset border.”

• A note for those fortunate folk who won copies of Sara Paretsky’s new novel, Body Work, in a recent book giveaway contest, as well as for everyone else: National Public Radio has posted an interview with the author that includes an excerpt from her latest V.I. Warshawski yarn. You’ll find it all here.

• Author Dick Lochte names his favorite private-eye-fiction works as part of a project undertaken by the Private Eye Writers of America to assemble a list of “essential” novels, movies, and TV series working the gumshoe field. It’s a damn good list, but I look forward to seeing what other PWA members can suggest.

• Pulp fiction aficionado Steve Holland has posted a tribute to artist Raymond Hawkey, who designed book covers for Ian Fleming, Len Deighton, Frederick Forsythe, Gavin Lyall, and others. Hawkey died last week at age 80. There’s more on his life and work here.

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